Author: Steven Sahiounie

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian emphasized the Palestinian people’s right to decide their future, stating that no party or country should impose its will or political projects on them. Amirabdollahian made these remarks during a Thursday call with Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the politburo of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas. The minister expressed his firm belief that an immediate end to Israeli crimes in Gaza is crucial for establishing peace and stability in the West Asia region. During the call, Haniyeh briefed Amirabdollahian about the situation in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians have resisted nearly four…

UNICEF says about 17,000 children in Gaza are unaccompanied or have been separated from their families during the conflict. Nearly all children in the enclave require mental health support, the UN agency added. “They present symptoms like extremely high levels of persistent anxiety, loss of appetite. They can’t sleep, they have emotional outbursts, or they panic every time they hear a bombing,” said Jonathan Crickx, UNICEF’s chief of communication for the occupied Palestinian territories. “Before this war, UNICEF was considering already that 500,000 children were already in need of mental health and psychosocial support in Gaza. Today, we estimate almost…

Turkish authorities have formally arrested 25 suspects in connection with the shooting of a man during a service at a church in Istanbul last weekend, Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said on Friday.Among the 25 remanded in custody were the two suspected gunmen, previously captured by police, who are believed to be tied to Daesh, Tunc said on the social media platform X.The two main suspects were foreign nationals, one from Tajikistan and the other Russian, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said previously.Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on Telegram, saying it was in response to a call by…

President Joe Biden will oversee the return of the bodies of three American soldiers killed in Jordan to the United States. The troops were killed in a drone attack at a US military base in Jordan that Washington blamed on Iran-backed fighters. The three were the first US military personnel killed by hostile fire in the region following Israel’s war on Gaza. The bodies of William Jerome Rivers, Kennedy Ladon Sanders, and Breonna Alexsondria Moffett will arrive at an air force base in Dover, Delaware. Biden said he has made up his mind on how to respond. The expectation has been there will…

President Mahmoud Abbas discussed during a telephone call this evening with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the latest political developments in the occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in the war-torn Gaza Strip. During the call, which comes as part of the ongoing bilateral consultations and efforts to stop the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, the president emphasized the necessity of putting an end to the Israeli aggression immediately and preventing any attempts aimed at the forced displacement of any Palestinian, whether in Gaza or the West Bank, including Jerusalem. The President stressed that the…

Three pro-Iran fighters were killed on Friday in Israeli strikes south of Damascus, a war monitor said, the second such attack this week.Syrian state media reported damage from “Israeli” air strikes south of Damascus, but did not mention any casualties.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said “three members of pro-Iran groups, including an Iranian and an Iraqi national” were killed in “Israeli air strikes,” adding the toll was provisional.Strikes hit a site belonging to Lebanon’s Hezbollah group on a road leading to the Sayyida Zeinab district, the Observatory said, while a site previously vacated by pro-Iran groups on the…

Palestinian Americans refused to meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza. “After nearly four unbearable months of constant US-enabled Israeli violence against our families, friends and other innocent civilians in Gaza, and throughout Palestine, we cannot imagine what Secretary Blinken could have to say or discuss with us,” said a statement from Palestinian community leaders invited to meet the American diplomat. The Huffington Post interviewed one man, Tariq Haddad, who lost nearly 90 family members in Gaza to the war. “Where do I start trying to meet with somebody who I feel…

Israeli colonists went on a rampage last night into the town of Sawiya, located south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, setting fire to a civilian vehicle and launching an attack on the homes of local residents. Local sources confirmed that the assailants, identified as heavily armed gangs of colonists, carried out the assault on the neighborhood of Al-Jora in the town of Nablus.  During the attack, the colonists deliberately set ablaze a vehicle belonging to one of the town’s citizens before locals were able to fend off the attack. No injuries were reported among the local citizens. Terror…

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry, engaged in a crucial phone call on Thursday evening, focusing on bilateral relations and regional developments, particularly the Gaza war. During the conversation, the ministers shed light on recent bilateral relations, underscoring talks between their country’s presidents in Riyadh and a recent phone call. Both ministers expressed their commitment to maintaining ongoing contacts and scheduling future meetings. Amirabdollahian and Shoukry dedicated time to discuss the implementation of agreements between the presidents of Egypt and Iran, demonstrating a shared commitment to diplomatic ties. Addressing escalating tensions in the West Asian…

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said on Friday that his country would not start a war but that it would “respond strongly” to anyone who tried to bully it.Raisi’s comments came after days of speculation about how Washington might retaliate after three US soldiers were killed last Saturday in a strike on their base in Jordan by an Iranian-backed group.CBS News, citing US officials, reported on Thursday that the United States had approved plans for multi-day strikes in Iraq and Syria against multiple targets, including Iranian personnel and facilities in those countries.“We will not start a war, but if anyone wants…